Herding On Geese

That was quite an experience ! Very surprising, this seem to suit Fly who usually tends to have difficulties to choose her distance from the herd. We really enjoyed it. The video also shows the work of my friend who invited me with her dogs.

We have cues for directions, stop and get out. I mix up english and french at herding lol but Fly doesn't mind.
So I use "lie down" to lie down (logical), "away" (sometimes we actually say Awé in the French way to have an open A) for right, "come by" for left and "file" (french word) for get out (or go away from the herd). We may use "stop" or "stand" to have the dog stop without lying down.

Directions are special. Going left means get around the herd by the left, and same for right.

Staying far behind is my main problem with Fly who tends to be sticky. But we want to avoid the dog lying down all the time so I use "file" or I just growl to have her keep her distance. We are working on this at the moment, as well as having a straight walk behind. Fly tends to zig zag all the time.

The isolated goose, Fly had actually given up. It's difficult for a dog to make a choice between one goose and the whole herd so she naturally chose to abandon the isolated one. I asked her to go ("away" cue) and when she was back, I asked "come by" so she was right behind the herd again.

I LOVED THIS!! I can't even imagine, how you even start to teach "get on the LEFT side of the geese" vs. "get on the RIGHT side of the geese." Geez, it'd be fun to be there, and see all this.
Your Fly reminds me sooooooo much of my Buddy.
I could spot moments Fly looked at YOU every now and then, as his ears go puppy-flat, lol. (or, at least i think that is what i saw) At any rate, what a lucky dog Fly is to have you! I also was surprised, i did not realize how young Fly is!

Thank you Tigerlily
Before learning directions, we teach the dog to stay at the 12/6 o'clock position (always opposite to you behind the herd). So when you go one way, the dog goes the opposite direction. And then we start giving cues. I found and old video of Fly learning this, this was just the start.http://youtu.be/Kk53kmQ93_g